I watched the game….The first draft of the line-up that Carp wrote in the paper yesterday would still not change except maybe….Avery in / Zuc out…Wolski did not help or hurt his long-term prospects of staying with Gabby-BR…Torts will/should start out keeping the AA-Cally-Dubie and Boyle-Prust-Feds lines together. 4th line will have Rupp (he is effin huge by the way), Stepan and like I said I think Avery gets to try and edge out Zucs here.

For the D…when will we know about Staal. and if he is out, who will partner with Girardi ?
Bell looks like he might get the nod over Erixon or McIlrath…and Valentenko just was awful.
MDZ was so-so and that is disappointing because we just want to see him do great and he never does.

Love Feds but want Rupp with Boyle and Prust on line 3 – Monster Line – move step up to line 1 and pruccha wusskie – 4th line can be a mix between who is left. The hobbit played well but cannot see him cracking top 3 lines. Play him with aves and either EZ or Wuss – doesn’t matter, may even get some O production – Weezer and newbury very aggressive – both looked good.

any word on Stepan. he got hurt throwing a check with about 16 minutes to go in the 3rd. looked to be upper body. he was hunched over going to the bench, Ramsey went over to him, and he stayed on the bench for a little while. he went to the locker room about 5 minutes later.

I agree that Avery is the 13th forward but I can’t justify keeping Hagelin, Bourque or any of the younger forwards on the team since they wont be in the lineup ever. Sending those guys down to HFD for the season is the best option and if injury arises or they start dominating then you can make changes but doing so now is kind of pointless.

The only forward spot in the lineup that is up for grabs is the RW to play alongside Stepan and Rupp and that likely belongs to Zuccarello.

agree. Hagelin only makes it if Zuccarello (or Wolski) or somebody else doesn’t make it. I think Avery and Christensen are both spare parts who can play once in a while. but there’s no point in Hagelin playing four or five minutes a night. or not playing some nights.

Impressed with rich man’s movement on PP along with neutral zone speed and vision. We have been lacking in neutral zone speed which allows opponent’s D be more aggressive. Moving step to forward on line 1 will have one 2-way player on the line and he can finish as well. Wusskie has not shown any consistency thru out career – he is PP specialist.

My fourth line would have newbury centering Feds, and zuc – aves and wusskie as black aces and EZ gone figuring rich man can take his place in SO.

Bulldog…12th or 13th forward is the difference between dressing and being in the line up or being cut, traded, sent down or scratched. So I think it is a just a bit more important than you say so matter of factly.

The bigger issues of course are at D.
Staal’s health ?
Who is the 5th and 6th D man ?
Who is the 7th ?

* Not impressed with Wolski. I’m not seeing much energy or improvement in his skating after his ‘alleged’ sessions with Barb Underhill. Still seems reluctant to get involved physically.
* MZA looks thicker and his skating appears more fluid and quicker after his Underhill lessons. Like last year, he’s involved physically but he’s more explosive and effective with his checks this year. He’s got great hands and he needs the right linemates to create room for his creativity. Still has potential to be a gem on this team.
* Del Zotto also appears stronger and more physical in the defensive zone. Still needs to improve the mental part of his game. Appears slightly rushed at times as if the game is still a bit too fast for him. Needs more development but still worth keeping in the organization at this point.
* I want to see how Stepan does on that top line for a couple of weeks. He’s smart enough to figure out his role w/ Richards and Gabby who appear to have some chemistry.
* I can’t wait to see the Captain, Dubi and Artie back together and playing against the opposition’s 3rd and 4th D men instead of the top pair.
* I don’t envy Torts trying to figure out the third line… so many possibilities.
* Wont’ even address our blue line with Staal’s unknown status. Girardi, Sauer and McD are the only sure bets.

as I said the other day, if you are keeping the best 13 forwards, Avery is on the team. question is whether Avery (or his misguided fans) can accept limited role. I would keep him, but he is not coming back after this season. maybe you replace him now.

His production in AHL pretty much indicated that he wasn’t a top 6 forward. And 1 of his 3 goals was an empty netter.

And it is not like we got nothing back in return. But we would have gotten more if we traded him sooner. That is why I think we need to trade Hagelin ASAP.

Hagelin is 23, but looks and plays like he is 18-19. I thought he was going to be a lot more like Stepan or Mike York and look really ready for NHL, but he isn’t and we need to get a draft pick in return for him or it is going to be another wasted asset.

I am definitely a big Avery fan but if Zuccarello is in the lineup then Avery is a healthy scratch. Even his biggest fans have to admit that…

Still, there is no justification for getting rid of him even if he wont be back next season (although I still think he comes back on a small deal since noone else will take him). Makes no sense to put a prospect in the press box and he’s a better option than any of the AHL veterans who will be needed to score in HFD.

Where is he going to play though? I just don’t see how Hagelin plays over Wolski, Zuccarello, Fedotenko, Rupp or Prust. Avery is already out of the lineup so replacing him with Hagelin still doesnt accomplish anything. They might dress Hagelin and let him make his debut in Sweden but once they come back to NA, he’ll never crack the lineup.

The best course of action is to have him start in HFD and if he proves he is ready to be an everyday player in the NHL then by all means bring him up but there is no spot for him right now.

Nobody’s saying that keeping or trading Hagelin is a once-in-a-lifetime franchise-changing decision, but you’re a bit obsessed with trading everything that moves, worrying about not getting the highest pick possible in return than actually developing players with that strategy, no?

So Hagelin plays (and looks?!) like a player with no pro experience? Er, he is a player with no pro experience…

oleo,
I do not think MZA is a lock. he is not top six on this team, and does not make sense as a 3rd liner. ideally you want 2 scoring lines and 2 lines that can play a checking role. Hagelin can play a checking role, and kill penalties.
I would have Avery on the team. depth is important. players fitting in proper roles is just as important.

That’s the problem with 22-23 yearold NCAA prospects with 4 years of NCAA, either they are pretty much developed or they won’t develop much more at that age. Think Pock, Gilroy, etc. Maybe it would make sense keeping Hagelin and trying to develop him if we had a bare cupboard of prospect pool, but we don’t, we have one of the deepest, and each year we find diamonds in the rough like Girardi, Parlett, JAM, etc. Not only do we have an overabundance of prospects, but we also have no spots on the big club.

So bottom line is we need to move some for draft picks to ensure we get the solid pipeline of prospects into the future.

Oh, and I’m not arguing Hagelin should make the team, just that I don’t see the rationale in there being huge urgency to trade the guy rather than playing in the minors, based on camp and a few exhibition games.

Hagelin totally lacks physical game. You can’t bea 3rd or 4th liner in NHL if you don’t hit. Also a 3rd or 4th liner needs to be stronger on the puck, better along the boards and protect the puck better. I don’t see him as an effective NHLer on a good team. Maybe on a bad one where he is on top 2 lines and on PP.

Zuccarello will not get load of ice-time 5 x 5 especially if we have the lead late in games but he’ll get enough to make an impact. Zuccarello has some of the best hands on the team and he really should be on the top PP unit.

I think Zuccarello will play with Stepan and either Boyle or Rupp on the 3rd/4th line.

I believe our top PP unit should be Zuccarello, Richards, Gaborik, Callahan and Wolski. Our 2nd unit should be Dubinsky, Anisimov, Boyle, Del Zotto and Stepan.

Granato played 4 yrs at wisconsin. Hull played 2 years junior, then went UMD, turned pro at 23. Adam oates also played 4yrs college. Janney played 3 full years of college. turned pro at 23. don’t make stuff up, cause I am going to call you on it.

janney played a year on the us national team, oates had 1 year junior 3 years college came out after senior season, Hull came out after senior season, Janney after junior season, granato after senior season.

my memories of Janney were from the early 70;s when he was in prep school and he and Leetch would be home during vacation and they used to both scrimmage with the kids over at the Wesleyan rink, with my son’s team kids in the local league we had. Janney was from Enfield and Leetch from Cheshire, considered “local;”boys. I know that Milbury had many a caustic critique about Janney
during his tour with Bruins.